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13. Have a good record keeping.

having a good record helps a lot in the farm. it helps you to calculate your profit and loss. it also helps to monitor the sales of your products even when you're not around. the records to keep in the farm includes:
purchase records
daily feed intake
daily mortality record
medication/vaccination record
daily egg production record
daily sales record
etc.

your production record should balance with your sales record. if not, someone is stealing from you.

12. the farm should have residential building

having a farm house for your staff is very important. it provides a form of security and ensures work efficiency.However, some farm works are done at night such as brooding and rinsing of water lines. some farms also regulate lights for their breeders and layers at night to boost their performance. Having accomodation in your farm improves work efficiency because your staff are closer to the farm thus resuming early to work. but you may not necessarily provide accomodation for all your staff but the key staff like the production manager, security and technician should have accomodation in the farm. the only advantage is that sometimes farm occupants becomes the theif, but if you make them responsible for any loss in the farm they will definitely desist from such evil act.

11. you need to have a production time table

some poultry farm has failed to grow in their capacity because they cannot maintain steady cashfow. this is because sometimes they have little or nothing to sell due to their chicken is still in the growing phase(the layers have not started laying or the broilers are not yet matured). but they still have to pay staff salaries.

A poultry farm should always have something to sell all year round. if you don't satisfy your customers demand, they will start looking for another farm.having a production timetable keeps you in steady production.

Production timetable simply means planning your farm in way that you will have two or more batches of chicken of different ages. for instance if you are into layers production make sure you have a replacement stock that have already started laying before you sell your old layers. if you're into broiler production, you should have different ages, so that by the time you sell the big ones, another one should be ready for sale in 2 weeks interval.
having poultry batches of different ages helps you to maintain and increase your production capacity.

10. you need to be smarter than your workers

if you're not smarter than your workers, they will take advantage of you. take notice of your poultry stock, purchases, feed intake, sales etc. your workers will steal from you if you're not smart enough to know and act on their shortcomings. poultry workers has developed funny ways of stealing, I will explain with my experience so far;
when I noticed some staff were stealing eggs and hiding in their bags, I instructed the farm security to always search every one crossing the gate. then the female staff started hiding eggs in their bra, some will even tie the eggs together with head tie on their head in the manner you won't even know. some also started coming to farm with 10 litres water can, they will tell you they want to fetch water but will later fill those water containers with eggs.

9. don't employ your relative/siblings

there is no brother/sister in business most especially poultry. sometimes relatives think they are entitled to free chicken and eggs. Also they can develop lazy approach to work considering your relationship with them. cautioning, punishing or correcting them may spring up hatred amongst eachother. sometimes it works for people to have their relative in their business but most of the times it doesn't.

8. don't expect quick and easy sales

as a starter, selling your poultry produce may be tough in the first few months, you may even be forced to sell at lower price in other to build your customer database. also when your layers start laying, the eggs are small in size which will attract lower prices but the egg sizes will definitely increase overtime. during this period, go round farms and markets to confirm the prices of the similar produce you have in your farm. once you know what your customers know, that is when you will start selling at a better price.

7. make sure your farm setup is complete before stocking

before you stock your farm, make sure your farm is ready, thus;
your poultry house should be complete.
your cages should be installed.
feeders and drinkers should be adequate for your stock capacity.
your source of water should be acessible.
your brooding items( coal pot,lantern,burner) should be ready.
etc.

when all is set before stocking, it aids in limiting your expenses to only running costs. for instance a client stocked his farm with point of lay birds without considering the capacity of his laying cages. his cages became overstocked, he ended up buying extra cages worth 500k because the layers were struggling for space and not laying well. he borrowed the 500k because he did not want to tamper with the farm capital.

6. don't borrow money to start poultry.

when starting poultry, don't borrow money to start because fixed costs like your poultry house, cages, feeders, generators etc. will definitely take 2 to 4 years to recover the money. so you may default in paying back the loan. if you must take a loan, invest it only in variable cost which will generate money such as purchase of chicks, point of lay, vaccines, medication, feed, water etc. using a loan to build a farm structure is like tying your money down.

5. don't expect profit in the next 6 months.

depending on your area and method of poultry, it can take up to 6-12 months for you to start generating profit. for instance if you are raising layers, they start laying at 17 weeks( just few of them) but you only start breaking even at about 22 weeks when majority of them start laying. 22 weeks is 5 months plus, and during this period you'll be spending money on feeding the poultry , paying staff salary, fueling the generator, vaccination, Medication etc.

As a starter, its better to buy point of lay pullets so as to decrease the waiting period for you to start making money

but the broiler farming at generate profit quite faster. you raise the broilers for 7 weeks and supply to food processors.

4. don't stop your business to setup a farm.

don't stop your business to setup a farm but rather set up a farm to stop your business. poultry farming is highly intensive and definitely needs a lot of funding for you to thrive at the setup phase. if you make the mistake of resigning from your job to startup a farm, you may be discouraged after some months of startup considering the money you have invested so far. its better to keep your job and allow your poultry run for some time to achieve self sustainability. once your poultry is financially sustainable, you can then resign from your job if you want.

3. No holidays for you

there is no public holiday in poultry farming. no Easter, Chirstmas, Salah, Etc. infact it is during these times that you will be more busy in farm because the demand for poultry products increases

2. Employ an experienced manager.

if you are a newbie in poultry, you need to have an experienced manager to handle the farm. most people make the mistake of employing inexperienced managers so they can pay low salary but the result ends up disastrous. having an experienced manager reduces the losses in your farm. but if your poultry scale cannot afford a manager, you can employ an experienced farm attendant.

1. it requires sufficient time and effort

poultry will really require most of your time and effort. most especially during brooding of chicks. you have to monitor the temperature, feed and water intake because they are very essential for proper growth of the chicks. you need to monitor your poultry closely to detect early signs of diseases and treat to avoid having an outbreak.

Setting up a poultry farm 101

Good day ladies and gents

Many of us have heard that having a Poultry farm is a goldmine. The truth is poultry has its ups and down. Its very lucrative but can also be frustrating when there is an outbreak of disease. I always advise people, if you dont have strong heart, don't dare enter into poultry.

I've seen people build empires from Poultry business, I have also seen people lose their wealth in Poultry business. So before you venture into this business, think deeply.

I've had the privilege of setting up poultry farm for people. Most were successful but few struggled to survive because they ignored some advice I gave them.

Before I continue, I am an Animal scientist. My experience cuts across breeders, layers, broilers, feed formulation, hatchery operations etc. I've worked in farms in osun, oyo and anambra, with some exceeding 120,000 stocking capacity.

This writeup is solely based on my personal experience.
Before venturing into Poultry business, there are few things you seriously need to consider.

1. It requires sufficient time and effort
2. Employ an experienced manager
3. No holidays for you
4. don't stop your business to set up a farm
5. don't expect profit in the next 6 months
6. Dont borrow money to start poultry
7. Make sure your farm setup is complete before stocking
8. don't expect quick and easy sales
9. don't employ your relative/siblings
10. You need to be smarter than your workers
11. You need to have a production time table
12. The farm should have residential building
13. Have a good record keeping
14. You need to be mobile and accessible
15. don't get too comfortable, be proactive
16. don't sell on credit
17. Seek for an advice from a practising farmer(irrespective of educational background ).
18. If possible formulate your own feed
19. Seek for a good feedmill
20. Seek for a good vaccine and drug outlet
21. don't reserve your produce for customers
22. Be mindful of your farm employees.
23. Scale your workers according to farm stock
24. What works in another farm may not work for you.

I would explain each point for better understanding. Kindly let me know you're following this discussion for more updates.

aikfrank:
I didn't open this thread for consultation purposes, if I wanted it I know where to go.

This thread this mainly for a farm manager who has submitted a simple work sketch here. Please read the original post.

Regards.

can you please drop your mail for submitting a working proposal ?

Nigerian police and Army have killed more Nigerians than Covid 19 during this lockdown

is your number on whatsapp?

pheonixdld2:
One off purchase sir/ma

ok, noted

Good day, are you a regular buyer or you just need one off purchase? I currently sold mine but I brood on regular basis

Daniel058:
The op have never had a fish farmer ..lol


Do you think getting maggots is that easy?

By God's grace I've been able to manage a poultry farm of 150,000 capacity with 8 years experience in integrated farming. pig farmers and fish rearers actually buy fresh manure and stimulate it to produce maggots. by doing so it reduces the cost of feeding by 20-30%.

8 weeks broiler chickens are available for sale. location is Ibadan

good day house,
we need constant buyers of broilers from 3 weeks to 8 weeks of age. if you have a cold room, you can contact us for your weekly and monthly supply of live or processed chicken

still available for a lucky buyer

still available

2 weeks broilers for sale

2-3 weeks broilers with update medication and vaccination.

7kg broilers available for sale

southniyikaye:
I can be of immense advantage and asset

what kind of advantage sir?

southniyikaye:
[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]pls am a father of two who needs something doing, I don't know if there is vacancy for me pls. Am very resourceful and versatile.

we will get back to you sir if any need arises

egg production

our rabbit rearing unit

our broiler unit